Deep beneath the surface of the Indian and Southern Oceans, a small team of Western Australian Museum scientists have dedicated years to documenting new species of marine life.
With more than 500 new species recorded over the past 20 years, the scientists behind the discovery are offering life on a deep sea voyage.
“Over the past decade, we have participated in or led seven deep sea expeditions in Western Australia and surrounding areas,” Head of marine zoology Dr Lisa Kirkendale said.
The expeditions extended from Ashmore Rock to the Recherche Islands and on to Christmas Island.
Head of aquatic zoology Dr Andrew Hoisie has been on more trips than any member of the science team.
“Days at sea are a lot more fun than they used to be. I’ve done some work with cray boats doing fishing spotter type work and those can be scary days at sea,” he said with a laugh.
Often collaborating with other organizations such as the CSIRO, Hoisie said the boats used for deep sea work are large and “can handle good seas.”
Patterns in the sea can go up to 35 days and a depth of 5000 meters.
Why they travel, the answer is black and white.
“From our perspective, it’s simple: we want to find out what we don’t know,” Kirkendale said.
“New records or species that are not only new to science, but important volumes that we didn’t know lived there. We fill in the map so that we know how to better protect what lives in our ocean property or ocean state.”
One of the discoveries brought back from the expedition is the glass scallops also known as propeamussium alcocki.
Found in the Perth Canyon, located about 20 to 60 kilometers west of Rottnest Island, the mussels contain what can be described as a pocket of marine life.
“It’s not just the glass scallop, which is amazing in and of itself, but what we found is more often than not – so 90 percent of the cases – the anemone is resting behind the scallop,” Kirkendale said.
“So in the hole, there’s a lot of sand and it’s not too low. So it’s the first chance for them (to settle).”
The anemone is named the Eye of Sauron for its resemblance to Lord of the rings behavior.
One important role that the WA Museum’s science team performs is species classification.
“Taxonomy is basically the description of new life. It’s the naming process,” Kirkendale said.
“So if you have a new species, we call it, where you think it’s something new, you have to do a lot of comparative work to check it’s completely new to science.
“You have to compare it to its very similar neighbour, which often resides in the Natural History Museum in London. It’s a long process to take something you think is new – a discovery – and translate that into a description of a new species.”
Kirkendale said it can take up to 20 years from the time scientists find “the first new species to tremble” until it is published under a new name in the public scientific literature.
For WA Museum science director Dr Jennifer McIlwain, the taxonomy work sets them apart from other museums in Australia.
“Taxonomy sits at the heart of and emphasizes biodiversity. You cannot fully understand something unless you can name it,” he said.
“That’s what differentiates the museum from other research organizations, especially government research, is that we give those valid names to animals. So disciplines like ecology and conservation biology all depend on us, the taxonomists, to give those names.”
McIlwain said in the invertebrate space, about 75 percent of the population remains unnamed.
“So we have a lot of work to do,” he said.
New shows
Opening on April 4 at the WA Museum is OceanXperience, a new interactive exhibit that recreates life on board the OceanXplorer.
The ship, which was launched for the first time in 2016, is an exploration, research and media vessel that opens up wonders in the unknown waters of the world.
Visitors to the exhibit immerse themselves inside the ship’s mission controller, wet and dry labs, bridges and mini tunnels to see how scientific research happens in real time.
The exhibition also coincides with discoveries made by the WA Museum’s scientific team on previous research cruises, not on board the OceanXplorer.
“We’ve never been on an OceanX expedition. But maybe we’d like to go on one, now that we’ve crossed paths,” Kirkendale said.
WA Museum chief executive Alec Coles describes the exhibition as “a complete change of pace” to previous Terracotta Warriors exhibitions.
“Western Australia has 12,000 kilometers of coastline. We have the entire Indian Ocean and really south, towards the Southern Ocean and we have incredible marine biodiversity here,” Coles said.
“So to feature something like this is fine for us and what’s really cool is to reinforce what the museum is all about.
“I’d say of all our scientific work, marine life research is probably the one we invest the most in. So it’s amazing to be able to bring such an international exhibition here and be able to connect it to what we’re really about in our DNA species.”
OceanXperience will run from April 4 to October 11.
